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It’s a new dawn for Britain. As WWII gets ever closer, the glorious Union of Britain, now a communist superpower, is enjoying its liberation from the shackles of capitalism and democracy. Ignore the tears in the fabric of space time – it’s a small price to pay for setting history right.

There’s little time to settle into this new communist groove, however. The majority of the world is still crying out for a saviour, from our pals across the Irish Sea and the Atlantic, to our continental buddies. The biggest problem is picking which country to save first.

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What if the UK was communist, I wondered as I munched on a gruesome burger from McDonalds while browsing for a new pair of Converses on my oversized smartphone. Would I finally have the confidence to pull off a bushy, Stalinesque moustache? Would those red trousers which I bought on a day I lost all sense, but never wore, suddenly look good on me?

To give direction to my aimless pondering I fired up Paradox’s grand strategy-wargame hybrid, Hearts of Iron IV [official site]. Not just a World War II simulator, it’s a What If scenario generator, answering the big questions like: how can Germany win the war? Can Argentina take over South America? And, of course, what if the UK was communist? Let’s find out.

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The Asimov patch for Stellaris [official site] is due before the end of the month and it contains a fairly major reworking of several of the game’s foundations. The focus is on diplomacy, with the addition of much-requested map modes to colour code the galaxy according to relationships and opinions, along with changes to border control and wargoals. There will also be new events and interactions based around nomadic fleets and (mostly) cosmetic alterations to battles. Full details can be found in theselinks, and the highlights are below.

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Stellaris has accosted the RPS clan with its sci-fi strategy and alien-on-alien diplomacy. Adam thinks it is an elegant and joyful strategy and story-making machine, while Alec thinks its menus are annoying and John reckons it’s nothing but inaccessible gubbins. Now, we are unleashing Brendan into this political maelstrom, where he will assume the role of an all-loving ‘father’ race of robot Overseers. What could possibly go wrong?

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My excitement for Stellaris [official site] was somewhat vicarious: the more Adam vibrated impatiently for its arrival in the RPS Super Secret Clubhouse, the more I began to share his conviction that this would be the strategy gaming event of an already mighty-fine-lookin’ year. However, we were coming to it from different places: he as a long-term fan of Paradox’s historical grand strategy fare, particularly Crusader Kings, me as more of a strategy generalist who was very taken with the idea of spaceships rather than little men for a change. (I’ve never quite got around too much time with Paradox’s mainstays – for no particular reason, and I do mean to change that, but life can get in the way).

It wouldn’t be at all true to say that I bounced off Stellaris, because I’m continuing to play and learning more all the while, and getting more and more out of its remarkable scope and complexity as I do, but as a relative newbie to Paradox’s bread and butter, I am hitting roadblocks that veterans steer right around without even knowing they’re doing it.

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Stellaris [official site], the terribly exciting sci-fi grand strategy game from Paradox, is almost ready for launch. The developers are huddled around screens in the control room monitoring fuel levels and vital signs. The mission commander counts backwards from ten. It’s so close. The room bubbles with excitement as the Clausewitz engine ignites, sending shudders of energy through the facility. TEN. NINE. NINE. NINE. NINTH. MAY NINTH. MAY NINTH.

OK, so Stellaris isn’t quite as close as I’d like it to be but bless Paradox for releasing a new trailer that explains precisely why I’m so excited about the game.

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When Obsidian partnered with Paradox to release 2015’s best RPG, Pillars of Eternity, I hoped there might be further collaborations. Obsidian’s major releases, Pillars aside, have been spread between six publishers and the studio turned to Kickstarter knowing that a “day of doom” was approaching. Perhaps the relationship with Paradox and the success of Pillars has brought some stability because moments ago, Obsidian announced their next game at Paradox’s GDC press conference. It’s called Tyranny and it starts where you might expect a game over screen.

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The game that excited me most, at announcement, in 2015 will be out sooner than you might have expected. With Stellaris, Paradox are heading away from the historical grand strategy that they’re known for and making the leap into space. And into the unknown. The game is a hybrid 4X/grand strategy game and its most intriguing feature is the procedural generation of everything from the galaxy itself to every alien species you’ll find there. I’m at Paradox’s GDC press conference and they just told us that the game will be out May 9th.

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If you happen to be awake and free from work at 5PM Pacific Standard time, you’ll be able to watch a live stream of the Paradox GDC press conference, which is taking place over in San Francisco as part of GDC. I’ll be there and I’m excited to hear the latest about lovely Stellaris but even more excited to hear from Obsidian.

Over on their Instagram account, Paradox just announced that they’ll be revealing details of a new project in collaboration with the studio behind Pillars, Fallout: New Vegas and Alpha Protocol. EXCITEMENT.

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The next expansion for Europa Universalis IV [official site] goes by the name The Cossacks and it’ll be with us before the end of the year. As the name suggests, there’s a spotlight on the independent soldiers of the steppes but the new features mostly seem to improve your options for peacetime management. The key addition is the “Estate system”, which allows you to assign control of provinces to local factions. You’ll lose out on some income but gain benefits related to the faction in charge. More details below as well as a trailer.

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Paradox Interactive’s grand strategy games create extraordinary scenarios. Often they’re based around small, local events – everyone seems to love sharing Crusader Kings II‘s twisted family trees and tales of incest, treachery and knives in the dark – but occasionally a story emerges that shows how preposterous and impressive these games can be at the other end of the scale. I’ve never seen anything quite like this million-man battle from Europa Universalis IV [official site] though.

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After Dark is the first expansion for Colossal Order and Paradox’s well-received citybuilder Cities: Skylines [official site], and is focused on tourism, leisure and neon-lit night skies. It’s out today, and here’s what I made of it.

What could have been a goodwill-killer has turned into yet another poke in the eye for EA’s approach to ill-fated SimCity. Cities: Skylines had flung the doors open to modding from day one, and by now it’s unbelievably simple to render the entire game essentially unrecognisable, and massively improved, with a just a few clicks. With all this free stuff raining down, what possible point would there be in a paid add-on?

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Based on my experiences with Hollyoaks Later, Baywatch Nights, and Late Night Woman’s Hour, I expect the Cities: Skylines [official site] expansion ‘After Dark’ to focus on drug addiction, werewolves, and online dating. According to both Adam’s preview and a press release before me announcing a release date, that is untrue. But do you believe everything you read on the Internet?

Come September 24th, we can investigate for ourselves whether it does really add day and night cycles, night life, taxis, and other after-dark odds and ends – or picking up drugged-out werewolves on Tinder.

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“It’ll be over by Christmas,” Hearts of Iron IV [official site] thinks to itself as the engineers at Paradox fiddle with its guts. “They’ll send me home via Steam-tube, rather than back to the frontlines of testing and development.”

No such luck. The World War II grand strategy game is due to spend another Christmas in development. That’s good news for us though because it represents a commitment to the cause. Rather than dashing for release while the shells are still falling, Hearts of Iron is standing firm. The last time I played, in a huge multiplayer session, there were several interface and balance issues in need of attention. That’s exactly what they’re getting – I spoke to Paradox at Gamescom and they told me how things stand.

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Pillars of Eternity is a big game. Enormous might be the right word, actually. Gigantic. Sprawling. Obsidian don’t think it’s quite large enough, however, so they’ll be adding new everything with the upcoming White March expansion. I spoke with lead designer Josh Sawyer at Gamescom and he explained that the studio has created so many new things – from companions and spells to quests and locations – that they’ll be splitting the expansion into two parts. “The first part ends cleanly, there’s no cliffhanger”, he said, “and part two will introduce even more new areas.” It looks superb, improving the game for those who haven’t finished as well as those who have. Part one is out August 25th.

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Paradox’s internal development studio, responsible for Crusader Kings, Europa Universalis, Victoria and Hearts of Iron, is deep into development on a space strategy game. We’ve already seen it, and picked the brains of CK II maestro and project lead Henrik Fåhraeus and EU IV designer Tomas Johansson about this giant leap for the studio. The project, which the company announced at their Gamescom fan gathering moments ago, goes by the name Stellaris and it’s shaping up to be one of the most exciting games in recent years.

Below, you’ll find everything we know, including how randomised alien species will ensure that each new galaxy is mysterious, and why the commitment to an intelligent and subversive end-game could make this one of the smartest interpretations of 4X strategy ever made.

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Delving into the glamour, glitz and grime of nightlife, Cities: Skylines’ first expansion, After Dark, introduces revamped crime mechanics, specialised commercial areas, beachfront entertainment and a day/night cycle. We’ve been looking at the expansion in the company of developers Colossal Order.

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Paradox have some announcements to make at this year’s Gamescom. They’re going to make them at their conference, at 7.30pm BST (8.30pm CEST), and you can jolly well watch it all happen right here. Just underneath. There… yes, just there.